Where have all the CFIs Gone?

It is fairly hidden from the public, but there is a looming pilot shortage happening. There are several reasons why that may be, but here are a few:

• In decades past, 80% of the pilots hired by airliners were recruited from the military. This has changed 80% of pilots now come civilian marketplace, which isn’t set up to supply the airliners with qualified pilots.
• Currently, about 75% of all students drop out before they even get their private pilot’s license
• Global air travel, especially in Asia, has dramatically increased, and is forecasted to grow even more. Since the universal aviation language is English, American pilots are being aggressively recruited to that market.
• Careers in aviation have been viewed as undesirable for the last decade. Made worst by comments from celebrity pilots like Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger saying he wouldn’t recommend an aviation career to anyone anymore.
• The pay and benefits are poor for new pilots.
• The most critical reason is that the baby boomers are hitting retirement age and are leaving the occupation in alarming numbers.

The sluggish economy and increased security concerns have hidden the shortage, but the industry will need to respond quickly before customers start to see service level decline even more.

Why does that matter to me? I have already mentioned that I have no intention of flying as a career (it does not allow for the work/life balance). Well the airliners are pulling recruits from the local small airports by hiring flight instructors. I’m happy to announce that my CFI, Adam Signaigo, has been hired by American Eagle. In addition to him, 2 flight instructors at Nashville Flight Training (where I have been flying the Cessna) have been picked up by commercial carriers.

While I’m happy for them, this has impacted the momentum of my training. I was heading into the final weeks of education when he left. Switching to a new instructor come with a set of new challenges. First I have to re-prove my skills, yet before I can, I have to re-learn a few a skills well. For example, Adam had me practice landing “on the numbers” (printed numbers on the runway) where as some instructors want me to land on the thousand foot mark. This is just a small adjustment, yet landing a plane is a lot of muscle memory, which requires me to re-learn how I land. This will add hours of additional training before I expect to test for my license.

Also, I’m disappointed in Wings of Eagle. One might expect someone from the school would have reached out to me to assist in transiting to a new instructor. In the last few months I have spend over $5,000 with Wings of Eagle, I don’t fault them from my instructor leaving, but it is reasonable to think that they would want to retain his students. Not one person from Wings of Eagle has approached me without me e-mailing them first.

I have observed that learning to fly isn’t a traditional educational experience, but has to really be driven by the student. The student has to have a plan and seek out the resources needed. If I wasn’t so focused on my goal, I can envision feeling really frustrated in this situation.

I have given it some thought, and even though I believe they could have handled this much better, I believe it is still in my best interest to continue to work with Wings of Eagle until I receive my pilot’s license.

On a side note, I may have also finished quicker had I not elected to transition to other aircrafts. This may delay my progress some, but I feel like I’ll have more enjoyment and better skills by having experience with a diverse groups of planes.